Have not taken RMD since retirement 15+ years ago.

[haister2k]

i am helping my elderly parents with their tax returns and just recently discovered that my father has not taken the RMD since he turned 72.5 some 16+ years ago. I don't know if he has records going back that far. What can I do?

[xmasbaby0]

Do you mean that your father has literally taken NO money out of his retirement accounts for all of those years?   

[haister2k]

That is correct. He rolled a portion of his 401k into a CD IRA due to a suggestion of a friend of his thinking it was a way to save money for his grand kids. English is his second language,  btw.

[xmasbaby0]

This will require help from another very knowledgeable person.

@dmertz    ?????

[RobertB4444]

First, @xmasbaby0 is correct.  You should sit down with a tax professional who can work on this for you.

Second, you should contact the company managing the retirement account and ask why they haven't sent the RMD or at least 16 years of notices to your grandfather.

Third, you should remove 16 years worth of RMDs in this year, file form 5329 showing the withdrawal and file a letter requesting a waiver of the excise tax.  

Good luck.

@haister2k